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“Everything about this reeks of a bad TV movie,” remarks an opportunistic commentator midway through the chilling follow-up Influencers. At that point, he’s being dismissive in a calculated way toward an interviewee whose bizarre tale he previously claimed he believed. But his assessment of what’s happening in the movie isn't inaccurate. On its face, two streaming movies chronicling a woman who insinuates herself into the worlds of online influencers before killing them seems like a modern-day version of a lurid yet network-approved weekly TV movie. The surprising aspect regarding Influencers is how much better it proves to be compared to much of the competition, irrespective of screen size. It’s the kind of thriller capable of giving its peers a serious bout of FOMO.

Recapping the Original and Establishing the Scene

The 2022 film Influencer follows the mysterious CW (Cassandra Naud) as she methodically selects traveling alone influencer targets, entices them to their doom, and covers up those murders (at least temporarily) by seizing control of their online accounts. The movie concludes (spoiler ahead) with CW stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Thailand, after her most recent mark, Madison (Emily Tennant), turns the tables against her.

This provides 2025's Influencers a degree of ambiguity, as returning filmmaker Kurtis David Harder resumes with CW happily living alongside her partner Diane (Lisa Delamar) in Paris. On a journey marking their one-year anniversary, UK-based influencer Charlotte (Georgina Campbell) catches CW's attention and ire.

CW remarks to her partner that someone ought to attempt leaving a phone-addicted online personality in a place without any devices to see whether they can survive. Is this an origin-story prequel? Was CW radicalized after witnessing the special treatment afforded one clout-chaser?

Shifting Perspectives and International Chases

The narrative viewpoint shifts several more times, ultimately revealing those introductory moments' place in the timeline. The story revisits Madison, who has been cleared of committing CW's offenses, but still faces suspicion regarding her recounting of what happened, including the killing of her boyfriend. The film also follows Jacob (Jonathan Whitesell), based in Bali attempting to boost his profile as part of a conservative-influencer duo alongside Ariana (Veronica Long), though his chosen platform involves masculine-focused livestreams, rather than the curated images that normally capture CW's interest.

The actor continues to be immensely captivating in her role, which seems particularly custom-fit to her strengths. (She even created CW's eye-catching wardrobe.) Although the follow-up's screentime balance tips heavily toward CW — the first film seemed more balanced between her and Madison — it still works as a tale of dueling amateur detectives, as Madison and CW employ fabricated profiles, social media surveillance, and an apparently unlimited travel budget to pursue or evade each other. Then again, maybe the vast resources isn’t necessary. Online personalities possess a knack for getting to explore luxurious locales without paying much, a skill that CW echoes through her more blatant scheming.

Resourceful Production and Visual Wanderlust

The filmmakers behind Influencers seem similarly ingenious about finding stunning locations to film, though they were presumably more legitimate in their methods. Most of the movie appears to be shot on location, giving it an authentic gravity that lingers even as many scenes involve a handful of actors of people looking at digital devices.

It follows the same logic that made the Bond franchise appear so consistently opulent for decades: Yes, big action and special effects can show off a big budget, however just providing a kind of visual tour for the audience also seems inherently cinematic. This is particularly appropriate for a narrative so dependent on the coexisting surface-level allure and try-hard grind of creating envy-inducing online content.

All of the characters visiting Bali, like those staying in Thailand in the first film, seem to have access to impossibly chic modern bungalows; there are movies concerning beach rescuers that don’t show off as much aerial pool video. The characters have to convincingly occupy these luxurious, remote places to highlight the uneasy irony of how frequently each person — including the woman exacting revenge on the influencers’ narcissistic falseness — nevertheless devotes much time under the light of their devices.

Nuanced Portrayals and Tech-Savvy Tension

At the same time, Harder hasn’t authored a rant targeting the vacuousness of the influencer industry. While it is gratifying to watch CW exploit various online personalities, and a Hitchcockian sense of alignment lets us to wish she evades capture, Harder is somewhat understanding of the key influencer figures. Previously, he tapped into the isolation Madison felt while on supposedly dream getaways. Here, Harder seems to trust that merely watching Jacob in action will make it clear that he is selling snake-oil masculinity to other gullible men; he resists caricaturing the character. He even gives Jacob a measure of dignity through depicting his genuine loyalty to his partner; he is two-faced, but Ariana is a collaborator in his double standards, not a victim of it.

The flip side of Harder’s even-keeled presentation is that it may occasionally seem that he’s nodding at elements of modern online life without deeply exploring them further. This is especially true regarding how he introduces artificial intelligence into the story, a fascinating turn which misses the psychosexual kick it should have. The pluralized title of Influencers could offer devotees of the original expectations of a larger-scale escalation, and the movie ultimately delivers exactly that, with a suitably wild final act. But before that, it’s more like a sleek Hitchcock thriller than a frenzied, tech-addled De Palma-style shocker. Influencers’ heavy use of real-world locations might also be what keeps it from coming across like pure nightmare fuel. The world may be overrun with always-online creators, online fraud, and exploitative travel, but reality itself remains present, at least for now.